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BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
of fish that are in the school. Limitations on the length of the fishing season are 
often of great benefit and have the advantage of being easily enforced. The closing 
of certain localities is often feasible, especially if various localities are frequented 
by schools of herring of different sizes. Also, some localities may be better adapted 
to certain types of gear. Restrictions on the type or size of the unit of gear may be 
quite effective if it is desired to protect certain sizes of fish, or if it is feared that a 
shorter fishing season will merely result in the use of more gear, with a consequent 
loss to the operators, without a corresponding reduction in the catch. 
It seems desirable in the present case to combine these methods. The season 
in Prince William Sound is unnecessarily long for a district in which reduction plants 
are operating. In southeastern Alaska the present season is only four months minus 
a weekly closed season of 36 hours, while in Prince William Sound the present season 
covers 4% months. The question, of course, arises as to whether it would be best 
to shorten the present season at either end, or to impose a weekly closed season. 
Of the two, the weekly closed season is preferable in that it would cut off practically 
the same proportion of the catch each season. It would have the added advantage 
of allowing the saltery crews a period in which to repack the “seasticks” that had 
accumulated, instead of having to do this during the time fish were available for 
salting. A weekly closed season would therefore tend to increase the proportion of 
fish used for salting, allowing the companies to make a larger proportionate return 
on the fish caught. 
The gear also needs regulation. The purse seine boats used range in size from 12 
to about 40 net tons, and the purse seines from 150 to 180 fathoms in length. In 
this district where the distances are short and practically all of the seining is done 
in comparatively sheltered waters the sole advantage of a large seine boat is in its 
carrying capacity. The carrying capacity of these larger boats is a disadvantage, 
however, in so far as the most economical use of the resource is concerned, as the 
crushing weight of such loads renders quantities of otherwise suitable herring unfit 
for pickling. Also, it is these larger boats that render possible the operation of re- 
duction plants independently of the supply of pickling fish. This criticism is not 
aimed at the use of herring for reduction, but at the exploitation by the reduction 
plants of immense quantities of small herring that in one to three years’ time would 
be of a size suitable for salting. Since taking only large fish would tend to stabilize 
production, as explained above, and as the use of large boats increases the possi- 
bilities of profit from the small fish, it seems desirable to limit the size of the boats. 
This we believe can best be accomplished by limiting the size of the purse seine. 
With the shorter seine the large boats would have difficulty in securing full loads. 
However, this would be fairer than limiting the size of boats, as some operators 
might still wish to use large boats, and their use would not be objectionable when 
not carrying full loads. 
SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS 
1. That commercial fishing for herring with seines, except for bait purposes, be 
prohibited from 12 o’clock noon on Saturday of each week until 12 o’clock noon on 
the Monday following. 
2. That commercial fishing for herring, including bait fishing, by means of any 
purse seine more than 1,200 meshes in depth, more than 150 fathoms in length, or 
of mesh less than V/% inches stretched measure between knots be prohibited. 
